Background – DESTIHL Brewery
DESTIHL Brewery founder, CEO and Brewmaster, Matt Potts received a homebrewing kit from his wife in 1995 while practicing law. He enjoyed brewing beer so much in 1997, Potts and his wife, Lyn, bought a dilapidated building down the street from his office in Elmwood Illinois, to start a brewpub. Elmwood Brewing Company opened in 2001, and four years later Potts left his law job and transferred his interest in Elmwood Brewing to focus on creating what would become DESTIHL.
Potts opened the first DESTIHL gastrobrewpub in Normal, Illinois in November 2007 and added a second gastrobrewpub in downtown Champaign, Illinois in April 2011. In 2013 DESTIHL opened a brewery distribution facility in Bloomington. In March 2017 Potts opened a new production facility in Normal capable of producing 150,000 barrels a year with possible growth past 200,000. The new brewery includes a large beer hall and restaurant.
Experience
We had been looking forward to visiting DESTIHL for some time as we love their Sour can series. Our travels took us closer to Champaign so we opted to visit the downtown gastrobrewpub there. It is a beautiful facility with brewing equipment up front near the front door, a large dining area and a bar. There is also a pleasant patio for outside dining and drinking. We arrived in early evening on a Wednesday and got a place at the bar. Our excitement was immediately dashed as we were told by an apathetic bartender that they had no Sour beers to serve us. None on draft and not even any in cans. So we ordered a flight of what was available. We did enjoy the Strawberry Blond, Raspberry Wheat & and Vertex IPA. We were in between meals but we did order beer battered asparagus that was delicious. They do have an appealing food menu.
Downtown Champaign is a great place to visit. We stayed right across the street from DESTIHL at the Hyatt Place. Nearby is an excellent bar/brewpub called The Blind Pig (see separate review) . We finished our evening with dinner at Watson’s Shack & Rail across the street from the Blind Pig. We had excellent fried chicken and southern comfort food. If DESTIHL just would have had a few sours, our stay would have been perfect. As it was we still had a great evening in Champaign and look forward to visiting the new DESTIHL brewery in Normal.
When in Champaign, also check out The Blind Pig Brewery!
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